Some experts prefer to have their email address attached to their email signature while others think it’s pretty unnecessary.

Here’s why people side with the first option:

When you’re waist-deep in a long email chain and you’re looking to email a sender who also happens to be just as buried in the middle, it can be a pain to find their email address in all the back-and-forth.

But if it’s been conveniently added to the bottom of their email, you don’t have to jump through as many hoops to contact the person you’re looking for.

This significantly decreases the chances of sending the message to the wrong person.

So if your company deals with a ton of email chains and long threads, consider adding your email to your email signature.

Be a rad coworker and encourage your friends at the water cooler to do the same.

Sometimes email services and their different apps can also make it tricky to locate the right email address.

So brands using Outlook or Gmail may want to make their employee’s email address a mandatory item of their signature as well.

Personally, I’ve always thought it was weird to see an email address attached to a signature so I don’t normally add mine as you can see here:

But I also don’t deal with an obnoxious amount of email threads and chains either.

Since I can certainly understand both sides, this extra element is optional depending on your circumstances and preference.

Consider who your audience is and what they’ll be using to open your emails (more on this shortly). This can help you narrow down whether you need this element in your email signature or can skip it.

No matter which side of the debate you’re on, we’ll all band together to avoid making this next mistake when it comes to your email signature.

I’ll put my mistakes on blast again using my email signature from my former freelancing days as an example here:

My signature packs three different titles, a phone number, and two links.

Even though I know people click on these links, I can only imagine how many were too overwhelmed to even notice them.

Learn from my mistakes:

Keep your title short and don’t be afraid to have fun with it (see example ###)

Use only 1 link and turn this into a call to action (see example ###)

Consider how most recipients will contact you

One note on that last bullet point: very few people called my phone number without first setting up a time to chat via email first.

This told me I could easily drop my phone number from my signature.

The majority of potential customers that did reach out were more interested in my qualifications and ability to help them.

So the only call to action I really needed to support this was a link to my LinkedIn profile (since my website’s portfolio was not currently updated).

I realized I could also use that same LinkedIn profile to share:

My phone number

A link to my personal site

The duties that coincided with all the hats I was wearing

This meant I could condense my title down to three words: Digital Branding Specialist and really simplify the whole thing.

Here’s a look at the new pared down version:

#BOOM

Don’t be like the old me.

Keep your email signature nice, neat, and stripped down to the essentials. Anything else just becomes an unnecessary distraction.

You’ll also want to consider this next point before you hit the design phase running.

Consider Where/What Your Email Signature Will Be Viewed On

Just like you adjust your website for different screen sizes (you are doing this, right?), you should consider the same situation with your email signature.

There’s a good chance your email signature will be viewed on a mobile device, judging by stats like these:

16.8% of users open emails on a tablet

48% of emails are opened on a smartphone

75% of Gmail users check their emails on a mobile device

Optimizing your signature for smaller screens is a no-brainer.

If you don’t take this step and your signature scales down so small that your links become smaller than thumb size (72 pixels), they’ll be impossible for your readers to click.

Talk about a waste.

Now that we have all the basics out of the way, let’s get crazy and create an email signature that catches your reader’s attention from the get-go.

7 Click-worthy Email Signature Examples (& How to Make Them Work for You)

Keep these 7 tips on hand as you start to design your perfect email signature:

#1: Don’t Be Afraid to Use Color

You may have noticed that I changed the color of my name in my email signature to help it stand out more.

You can take this a step further by adding your brand’s colors and logo to your email signature like this one does:

The name and title here match the logo colors, as well as the email address below. This helps recipients quickly find what they need in a well-organized, harmonious color scheme.

The middle section is a bit too packed with information for my liking, but in this case, the pops of color in the branding help fade out the middle section so your eyes notice the sections highlighted in different colors first.

Three Tools to Help You Get Started

#1: WiseStamp

We love how easy it is to create a professional, yet fun email signature that’s heads and shoulders above the rest.

Their dashboard helps you change your colors to match your branding, decide how big you want your photo to be, and if you want to use a border, among other customizations.

For those who aren’t as creatively gifted, you’ll also find templates and signature ideas for all of the most popular email providers. They even have them organized by category to help you sift through them faster.

When you’re ready to start designing your email signature, check out WiseStamp. You’ll be glad you took our advice.

#2: HubSpot

HubSpot also offers a free email signature tool that you can use fairly easily.

Here, just input your info and the automatic generator goes to work laying out the rest.

The only downside, and why it’s free, is that you don’t get to customize as many options and they’re are only 8 templates to choose from if you’re having email signature idea block.

While this will surely be a good way to kickstart your signature upgrade, it won’t help you stand out as well.

For those looking to do that (which should include you), head straight for WiseStamp.